Pretty breezy through the day but the wind had swung round to the NE (the first time in ages that there was no west in the wind) which did the trick and produced a much better ringing total of 99 new birds with the obvious highlight being a corking adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher; the rest of the catch was very autumnal including the first 4 Goldcrests of the autumn in amongst 41 Robins, 9 Tree Pipits, 10 Redstarts etc.

Today's totals - 9 Tree Pipit / Skovpiber;  2 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  41 Robin / Roedhals;  10 Redstart / Roedstjert;  6 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  1 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  4 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  6 Blackcap / Munk;  11 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  4 Goldcrest / Fuglekonge;  1 Spotted Flycatcher / Gra Fluesnapper;  1 Red-breasted Flycatcher / Lille Fluesnapper;  1 Pied Flycatcher / Broget Fluesnapper;  2 Tree Sparrow / Skovspurv

Stunner!

                Birds over the garden through the morning included Crossbills, Siskins, Chaffinches, Grey Wagtail and many Tree Pipits and Swallows (a small percentage of what passed through out on the point).

                I went out to the point in the afternoon (1420-1700) where my totals included the highlights of a juvenile Caspian Gull which flew low over the tip and 23 Cranes in two flocks; other birds of note were good numbers of ducks with 81 Pintail, 195 Wigeon, 70 Teal, 112 Common Scoter, 2 Shoveler and a Velvet Scoter along with a Black-throated Diver, 22 Oystercatchers, a Knot, 20 Turnstone and 45 Common Terns while raptors were scarce with just 3 Sparrowhawks, a Hobby and a Merlin.   There was also a steady passage of southbound Swallows and Yellow Wagtails with only a flock of 11 Siskins being any different.   [we did miss all the action out on the tip though with 3 Tawny Pipits and 15+ Long-tailed Skuas being the day's highlights out there!]

For more pictures from around Gedser www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

Heavy rain dominated most of the early morning today so standardised ringing didn't happen. Instead, I took the rare chance of a lie-in, and later went to the point for a seawatch as a few ducks were moving south. Simon opened a small number of nets later in the day in a clear spell, catching 10 new birds:

Tree Pipit/Skovpiber - 2, Robin/Rødhals - 1, Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger - 2, Whitethroat/Tornsanger - 1, Garden Warbler/Havesanger - 1, Blackcap/Munk  -1, Willow Warbler/Løvsanger - 1, Tree Sparrow/Skovspurv - 1.

My 3 hour seawatch in the early afternoon produced highlights of 72 Common Scoter, 1 Velvet Scoter, 39 Wigeon, 20 Shoveler, 3 Teal, 11 Pintail, 6 Goosander, 5 Swift, a Black-throated Diver, 1 Black Tern, 1 juv Little Gull, 3 Grey Plover and a Red-necked Grebe. Tree Pipits and Swallows were heading south throughout too. 

Goosanders

Shoveler and Wigeon

Wigeon

A much more autumnal feeling morning (apart from the lack of birds!) - overcast with a moderate westerly wind with little bits of drizzle moving through; there was however an almost complete lack of birds in the garden and therefore in the nets we could open with just 8 new birds ringed, two Redstarts the best of it!

Todays totals (for what they are worth!) - 1 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  2 Redstart / Roedstjert;  1 Blackbird / Solsort;  2 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  1 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  1 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger

                After the drizzle had moved through at lunchtime there was a brief burst of raptors moving through as my counts included 18 Honey Buzzards and an Osprey with a few Sparrowhawks, Kestrels and Marsh Harriers – pretty much all of them moved to the west of the station with many of them heading due west into the wind over Gedser town and Kroghage.

Honey Buzzard

                A walk out to the point and north along the coast late afternoon then produced 3 Marsh Harriers and a flock of 12 Ruff south with 4 Common Sandpipers and a Turnstone on the beach.

For more pictures from around Gedser see www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

Despite apparently good conditions this morning, the birds simply failed to appear in good numbers. Despite 7 hours of catching, only 38 new birds were processed. These consisted of the usual mix of common migrants, with Robin the most numerous (9).

Totals comprised:

Dunnock/Jernspurv - 1, Robin/Rødhals - 9, Redstart/Rødstjert - 2, Blackbird/Solsort - 1, Reed Warbler/Rørsanger - 1, Icterine Warbler/Gulbug - 1, Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger - 5, Garden Warbler/Havesanger- 4, Blackcap/Munk - 7, Willow Warbler/Løvsanger - 4, Spotted Flycatcher/Grå Fluesnapper - 1, Pied Flycatcher/Broget Fluesnapper - 1, Tree Sparrow/Skovspurv - 1. 

A flock of 12 Honey Buzzards passed over early in the morning (having likely roosted nearby), and several Sparrowhawks were flushed from the garden through the day. 

Very similar to yesterday although even calmer through the morning so it was not too much of a surprise that the ringing session was also very similar to yesterday with 76 new birds caught; there was again a mix of early and later autumn migrants with Robins, Dunnocks and Blackcaps featuring prominently along with the first Chaffinch of the autumn but there was also 2 Marsh Warblers, an Icterine Warbler and a Thrush Nightingale caught while of note as well were 17 Lesser Whitethroats and the second Nuthatch of the year.

The totals today - 3 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  6 Robin / Roedhals;  1 Thrush Nightingale / Nattergal;  2 Redstart / Roedstjert;  1 Blackbird / Solsort;  1 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel;  2 Marsh Warbler / Kaersanger;  1 Icterine Warbler / Gulbug;  17 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  2 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  2 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  9 Blackcap / Munk;  1 Chiffchaff / Gransanger;  4 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  1 Pied Flycatcher / Broget Fluesnapper;  1 Blue Tit / Blamejse;  1 Nuthatch / Spaetmejse;  20 Tree Sparrow / Skovspurv;  1 Chaffinch / Bogfinke

Chiffchaff

                Several small flocks of Blue Tits piled into the garden but [fortunately!] avoided the nets while also seen were 2 Spotted Flycatchers, at least 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers and a few Tree Pipits overhead.   Raptors were a bit slow with the usual handful of Sparrowhawks and a couple of Honey Buzzards seen, both of which were generally heading due west over the garden but Louis et al out on the tip scored with a second year male Red-footed Falcon which flew south mid-afternoon.

                I had a brief look at Bøtø in the small window between a very heavy spell of rain in the afternoon and the sun reappearing and blinding you as you looked west from the tower but it was fairly quiet as the few waders included a juvenile Temminck’s Stint, 3 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers and 6 Spotted Redshanks along with Wood Sandpipers, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Ruff and Dunlin; also of note were 6 Cranes , 2 Great White Egrets and several Water Rails including an adult with a still all black, tiny chick.   A flock of 5 smart summer plumaged Grey Plovers flew over the garden in the evening.

For more pictures from around Gedser look at www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

We had a better day of catching today in calmer (but still clear) conditions, with a respectable total of 75 birds of 14 species. As has been the norm this week, the vast majority of these were caught before 8am, with a steep drop-off in numbers after this as birds clear out of the garden and the sun hits our nets! 

Highlights today included the autumn's first Firecrest (with a second calling in the garden), rising numbers of Robins and Blackcaps (12 and 17 respectively) and another Red-backed Shrike.

Totals comprised: 

Dunnock/Jernspurv - 4, Robin/Rødhals - 12, Redstart/Rødstjert - 5, Blackbird/Solsort - 4, Marsh Warbler/Kærsanger - 1, Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger - 9, Whitethroat/Tornsanger - 6, Garden Warbler/Havesanger - 5, Blackcap/Munk - 17, Chiffchaff/Gransanger - 3, Willow Warbler/Løvsanger - 6, Firecrest/Rødtoppet Fuglekonge - 1, Red-backed Shrike/Rødrygget Tornskade - 1, Tree Sparrow/Skovspurv - 2.

Sparrowhawks and Kestrels were again obvious around the garden and surrounding area all day, but the only large raptors seen were a couple of Honey Buzzards. 

A couple of pictures of today's Firecrest - a real jewel of a bird.

Still breezy, although the westerly wind was nowhere near as strong as yesterday allowing most of the nets to be opened where we managed 50 new birds comprising the usual spread of migrants with the first Wheatear to be ringed this year the only unusual species.   Raptors were again obvious over the garden as 8 Honey Buzzards, 30+ Sparrowhawks, a couple of Marsh Harriers and several Kestrels were counted through the morning along with good numbers of Tree Pipits and a flock of Crossbills heard but not seen.   Also of note were 5 Wheatears and a juvenile Red-backed Shrike in the front field.  

Today's totals - 2 Tree Pipit / Skovpiber;  1 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  8 Robin / Roedhals;  6 Redstart / Roedstjert;  1 Wheatear / Stenpikker;  1 Blackbird / Solsort;  3 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  5 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  2 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  4 Blackcap / Munk;  9 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  1 Spotted Flycatcher / Gra Fluesnapper;  4 Pied Flycatcher / Broget Fluesnapper;  3 Tree Sparrow / Skovspurv

Wheatear 

                I had a little look out on the point straight after we’d closed the nets at lunchtime but there was no evidence of any raptors passing over the tip but quite a few Sparrowhawks and Kestrels were again cutting SW over the fields completely avoiding the tip so I again went out and watched for a while over the fields just north of Birkemose where there was a dark juvenile Honey Buzzard, a couple of White-tailed Eagles, 3 Marsh Harriers and small numbers of Sparrowhawks and Kestrels but they were passing on a very broad front and often cutting back and turning round so very difficult to get an accurate count.

A strong south-westerly breeze meant that we were severely limited in the number of nets we could open today, and this was reflected in the ringing totals - just 18 new birds of 8 species.

That total comprised:

Tree Pipit/Skovpiber - 6, Thrush Nightingale/Nattergal - 1, Redstart/Rødstjert - 1, Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger - 2, Blackcap/Munk - 2, Willow Warbler/Løvsanger - 3, Spotted Flycatcher/Grå Fluesnapper - 1, Tree Sparrow/Skovspurv - 2.

Simon and I rotated positions ringing and vis-migging at the point through the morning, with highlights from there including 2 Honey Buzzards, 2 Osprey, a White-tailed Eagle, several Sparrowhawks, and small numbers of the expected ducks and waders.   

Spotted Flycatcher

Tree Pipit

Thunder, lightning, torrential downpours and a strong, gusty, swirling wind seemingly coming from every direction at once from first light curtailed any ringing activity for several hours preventing the standardised ringing from being carried out; once we got a few nets open there were a few birds around as we ended up with 40 new birds made up predominantly of 24 Willow Warblers along with small numbers of the usual migrants – Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat etc.

Today's non-standardised ringing - 1 Redstart / Roedstjert;  7 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  2 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  1 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  2 Blackcap / Munk;  24 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  2 Spotted Flycatcher / Gra Fluesnapper;  1 Pied Flycatcher / Broget Fluesnapper

                There wasn’t too much else to mention through the rest of this quiet day with 4-5 Sparrowhawks seen around the garden and a couple of Whinchats along the front fence.

Osprey over the station yesterday evening

For more pictures from around Gedser (not from today though!) see www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

After a disappointingly slow day yesterday, a change in the wind brought us a much better number of birds today. The light north-westerly delivered 121 new birds to our nets, with activity tailing off in the late morning. The bulk of the birds were Lesser Whitethroats (29) and Blackcaps (20). A second Grasshoppper Warbler for the autumn was a nice highlight. 

Totals comprised:

Dunnock/Jernspurv - 3, Robin/Rødhals 6, Redstart/Rødstjert - 2, Grasshopper Warbler/Græshoppesanger - 1, Marsh Warbler/Kærsanger - 2, Icterine Warbler/Gulbug - 2, Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger - 29, Whitethroat/Tornsanger - 17, Garden Warbler/Havesanger - 5, Blackcap/Munk - 20, Chiffchaff/Gransanger - 2, Willow Warbler/Løvsanger - 15, Spotted Flycatcher/Grå Fluesnapper - 1, Pied Flycatcher/Broget Fluesnapper - 5, Red-backed Shrike/Rødrygget Tornskade - 1, Tree Sparrow/Skovspurv - 9, Goldfinch/Stillits - 1.

Migrating birds were low in number - 2 Marsh Harrier and 5 Sparrowhawk were seen. 

An immature male Marsh Harrier with distinctive moult limits today.